Opioid epidemic brings updates, renewal to programs targeting young children

Opioid epidemic brings updates, renewal to programs targeting young children

Deadly crisis prompts communities to refocus prevention efforts

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Updated: 9:09 PM EDT Aug 5, 2017

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WEBVTT STUDENT.MEGAN: MICHAEL DURAN WAS JUST19-YEARS-OLD WHEN HE DIED OF AHEROIN OVERDOSE IN 2011.HIS MOTHER LOU >> YOU KNOW, YOU HAVE THATCHOICE AS A PARENT TO SIT ATHOME AND CRY, AND JUST MOURNQUIETLY.MEGA NOW A COMMUNITY ADVOCATE,WARNING PEOPLE OF HOW DEADPRESCRIPTION PILLS CAN BE.MICHAEL BECAME ADDICTED TOOXYCONTIN WHEN HE WAS INJUREDPLAYING SOCCER.DURAN THOUGHT THOSE PILLS WERESAFE, SINCE A DOCTOR PRESCRIBEDTHEM.>> IN FACT, I TOLD HIM THE PILLSARE IN THE BATHROOM IF YOU NEEDONE.MEGAN: DURAN NOW SPEAKS ATVARIOUS EVENTS THROUGHOUT THESTATE.TODAY SHE WAS AT DEL NORTE HIGHSCHOOL, WHERE THE STUDENTS >> WE WANTED TO MAKE ADIFFERENCE HERE IN THIS SCHOOL.MEGAN: WANTED TO EDUCATETHEMSELVES ABOUT OPIOIDS BEFORIT'S TOO LATE.>> MORE AND MORE AND MORE, ANDIT'S VERY DANGEROUS BECAUSE ITCAN KILL YOU.MEGAN: WITH HELP FROM NEWMEXICO'S SAFE TEEN PROGRAM >> REALLY WANTED THEIR FELLOWSTUDENTS TO UNDERSTAND HOWDANGEROUS IT CAN BE, AND HOWEASY IT IS TO BECOME ADDICTED.MEGAN: DEL NORTE STUDENTSWATCHED POWERFUL VIDEOS AND SATIN SILENCE, WHILE DURAN TOLDTHEM ABOUT MICHAEL.SHE URGED THEM TO PROTECT EACHOTHER >> I WISH I WOULD HAVE SAIDSOMETHING TO YOU, MRS. DURAN.I WISH I WOULD'VE REACHED OUT,AND THEY HAVE TO LIVE WITH THAT

Opioid epidemic brings updates, renewal to programs targeting young children

When Deputy Angie Hamilton shows fifth- and sixth-graders before-and-after photos of drug users, they usually respond in the same way, exclaiming in unison, “ew,” and “gross.”

She uses the photos, which show open sores, bad teeth and quickly aging users, as part of her opioid education presentations as a Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.) officer for schools in Ashland County, Ohio, located between Cleveland and Columbus.

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The presentations — similar to other drug programs she leads — involve teaching children the effects of the drugs and how to be safe. They also involve role playing to help give children the confidence to ward off peer pressure.

“My hope is they will be more apt to say, ‘No,’” Hamilton said.

Across the country, the opioid crisis has led communities to see how they can curb increasing rates of opioid use. Some communities are even seeking to bring back D.A.R.E. programs, including those in New Jersey, even though the statewide D.A.R.E. group there suffered legal setbacks during a dispute over whether programming was effective or not.

"We need to create a culture and a climate that is hostile to drug use." &mdash; U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions

A U.S. surgeon general report stated in 2001 that the D.A.R.E. program was ineffective, noting studies consistently found little or no deterrent effects on substance use. But the organization said that research is now outdated, and it later partnered with Arizona and Penn state universities to develop a new curriculum, called keepin’ it REAL, that the organization has defended as an evidence-based program.

Meanwhile, drug overdoses have become the leading cause of death for Americans who are under the age of 50, Attorney General Jeff Sessions said on July 11 in Texas at D.A.R.E.’s 30th annual international training conference. He said the country needs to emphasize prevention efforts.

“We need to create a culture and a climate that is hostile to drug use,” Sessions said. “Our young people must understand that drugs are dangerous, that drugs will destroy their futures, or worse yet, end their lives.”

One program returns under new name

One drug education program has returned in North Haven, Connecticut, through a revamped effort. It previously existed as D.A.R.E., but it’s now called the Middle School Drug Education Program. It has already entailed a broader approach that covers issues like internet safety and the 1999 Columbine High School shooting, said Larry Lazaroff, a police commissioner for the town.

Lazaroff said youth substance abuse isn’t just about tobacco, alcohol and marijuana anymore.

Nationally, D.A.R.E. could have an opioid lesson available later this year in which a speaker talks in a classroom setting about the issue, said Lloyd Bratz, a regional director for the organization who covers 10 states that range from Pennsylvania to Missouri and Michigan to Tennessee.

Because of the nature of these kinds of painkillers, the educational effort could be more helpful to youth in the future rather than their adolescence, he said.

Pharmacy settlements give one state grant money for issue

Money from settlements with two pharmacies led Massachusetts to provide $700,000 in grant money to 41 recipients, ranging from school districts to nonprofits. Weymouth Police Department near Boston will use the money to train officers to teach the keepin’ it REAL curriculum, bringing D.A.R.E. back to middle schools there.

“Preventing the seeds of addiction from being sewn is the best strategy we have to break the opioid epidemic and protect the lives of our rising generation,” Weymouth Mayor Robert Hedlund said in June in a news statement.

“Targeting young people with science-based prevention (programming) is critical to fighting and reversing the opioid scourge in the long term,” Weymouth Police Chief Richard Grimes said in the news statement. “We need to reach young people early and with repeated interventions if we want to stop addiction before it starts.”